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Thursday, June 6, 2013

Multiple Scientific Studies Link Pesticides to Cancer

In my article, “Pesticide Content In Food Less Regulated By Codex Than Vitamins and Minerals,”
I briefly discussed the connection between commonly used pesticides and
neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease. In addition, I
mentioned the rather contradictory position held regarding the use of
such pesticides, which banned their commercial use in some aspects, but
continues to tacitly allow their use in food production.

However, neurological diseases are not the only negative side effects
presented by Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) or general pesticides.
Indeed, pesticides have been linked to cancer as well.

For instance, a study published in Blood, the journal of the
American Society of Hematology, found that exposure to certain
pesticides doubled an individual’s risk of developing Monoclonal
Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) compared to individuals
in the general population.[1] MGUS is a “pre-cancerous condition that
can lead to multiple layer myeloma which is a painful cancer of the
plasma cells the bone marrow.”[2] When one is diagnosed with MGUS, the
patient requires life-long monitoring because MGUS is a condition that
virtually every multiple layer myeloma patient experiences prior to
developing the myeloma.[3]

In addition, in a study conducted as part of the Agricultural Health Study and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology,
a potential link between pesticides and prostate cancer was reported.
In particular, Methyl Bromide, a gas used to kill pests in the soil and
fumigate grain bins and storage areas, was associated with increased
risk of the disease by approximately two to four times as much as those
who were not exposed to the pesticide. This is not surprising
considering the fact that the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health acknowledges Methyl Bromide as a potential occupational
carcinogen.[4]

A link between other pesticides such as chlorpyrifos, coumaphos,
fonofos, phorate, permethrin, and butylate, was also established for men
who had a family history of prostate cancer. One interesting note
regarding this study is that the individuals examined by scientists were
compared to the incidence rates of the two states in which the subjects
lived. That is, they were compared to the average occurrence of
prostate cancer for that area.[5] However, since more in-depth analysis
had not been conducted at the time, we have no way of knowing just how
many cases of prostate cancer in the average occurrences were caused by
pesticide exposure themselves. Such information would be extremely
valuable due to the fact that the aforementioned cancer rates could have
been caused by pesticide residues in food or proximity to these
particular chemicals.

Children, of course, are at particular risk for the adverse effects of
pesticides because of their developing biological systems. So it is not
entirely surprising that a link between childhood cancers and pesticides
has been discovered as well. Researchers from Georgetown University
Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre completed a study involving 41
pairs of children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and their
mothers who were tested and compared with 41 pairs of healthy children
and their mothers. The study found that children with ALL, a cancer that
commonly develops before seven years of age, had a higher ratio of
household pesticides in their urine than the healthy children,
indicating a possible link between the chemical and the cancer.[6]

The
link between pesticides and childhood brain cancers are slightly more
established, however. In a study published in Environmental Health
Perspectives in 2009, researchers confirmed a link between pesticide
exposure and increase in astrocytomas (brain cancers).[7] The study
confirmed previous research that has suggested a link between industrial
and household use of pesticides and herbicides with childhood brain
cancer.[8] Not only that, but there is the distinct potential that the
parents use or exposure to pesticides may affect the child even before
birth. As the study claims,

Parental exposures may act before the child’s conception, during
gestation, or after birth to increase the risk of cancer. Before
conception, exposures may cause mutations or epi-genetic alterations in
gene expression, such as genomic imprinting or DNA methylation, in the
sperm or egg. Exposure after conception (i.e. during the pregnancy or
after birth) may cause somatic cell mutations or alterations in hormonal
or immunological function that affect cancer risk.[9]

Of course, this merely reaffirms the knowledge that humans have
possessed for millennia, i.e. that what the parents ingest into their
bodies can and probably will affect the child they produce. Pesticides
are no different in this respect.

As discussed earlier, pesticides also pose a cancer risk for adults,
particularly those who work with these chemicals. A study published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine
in June 2007 found that agricultural workers who had the highest
exposure to pesticides were 2 times more likely to develop brain cancer
as those whose occupations did not bring them into contact with these
chemicals. It was also found that those who used pesticides on their
house plants were at an elevated risk for brain cancer.[10] Recent
research has also suggested that pesticides and industrial chemicals are
linked to testicular cancer, genital abnormalities, low amounts and
potency of semen, and other male reproductive conditions.[11]

Indeed, the connection between these substances and cancer is widely known. As the researchers mention in the Environmental Health Perspectives
study, the EPA itself classifies chlordane, heptachlor,
tetrachlorvinphos, carbaryl, and propoxur as probable or likely
carcinogens to humans and lindane, dichlorvos, phosmet, and permethrin
as suggestive or possible carcinogens.[12]

While it is not known exactly how these chemicals cause cancer, it is
known that many pesticides exude hormone-mimicking, mutagenic, and/or
immune-hampering qualities and these properties have been linked to
cancer in their own right.[13]

As I mentioned in my last article regarding this subject, neurological
and developmental problems are also associated with pesticide exposure.
This is not surprising considering the fact that many insecticides kill
their targets by attacking their nervous systems.

As with other concerns, children are at highest risk, including those still in the womb.

Although more research has been conducted on the effects of some these
chemicals on animals than humans, researchers suggest that these effects
are quite similar. As a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal states,

Neuordevelopmental, hematological,
immunologic, and reproductive effects have been found in animals at
levels of exposure that overlap the range of exposures and body burdens
found in humans. The health effects of POPs in humans is unclear,
although available epidemiological evidence suggest they are similar to
those in animals, affecting neurodevelopment, and thyroid, estrogen, and
immune function. The developing brain and immune system may be most
vulnerable.[14]

While toxicity of pesticides in humans may
not have been studied ad naseum, it is safe to say that it is,
nevertheless, well established. In a more recent study published in Frontiers In Bioscience, it was stated more directly. The authors write,

Most pesticides are not highly selective, and
are also toxic to nontarget species, including humans. A number of
pesticides can cause neurotoxicity. Insecticides, which kill insects by
targeting their nervous system, have neurotoxic effect in mammals as
well. . . . . . Insecticides interfere with chemical neurotransmission
or ion channels, and usually cause reversible neurotoxic effects, that
could nevertheless be lethal. Some herbicides and fungicides have also
been shown to possess neurotoxic properties. The effects of pesticides
on the nervous system may be involved in their acute toxicity, as in
case of most insecticides, or may contribute to chronic
neurodegenerative disorders, most notably Parkinson’s disease.[15]

In
past research there have also been connections drawn between Persistant
Organic Pollutants and diabetes. In a cohort study published in 2006,
serum concentrations of POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) were
examined in accordance with diabetes prevalence. What the scientists
found was “striking dose-response relations between serum concentrations
of six selected POPs and the prevalence of diabetes.”[16]

Although, admittedly, there are several limitations to this particular
study, clearly this is a subject that needs to be further investigated.
Indeed, it would be wise, considering the growing corporate structure
and mass-produced nature of the world’s agriculture, to fund and conduct
a number of independent studies investigating the safety of pesticides
used on food and the possible side effects of their use.

Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He
has a Bachelor's Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author
of three books, Codex Alimentarius -- The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident. Turbeville
has published over 200 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects
including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties.
Brandon Turbeville's podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every
Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.

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